A New Chapter
by No Sweeter Song
Summary: A short exchange between Rose and Eleven. They both regret what can't be and find acceptance in their lives as they are. In other words, what I think End of Time SHOULD have been!


I wrote this ages ago and kinda forgot to post it. It's my take of what should've happened for the Tenth Doctor's exit. I wrote it before The End of Time....heck, I wrote it before Planet of the Dead, even. And frankly, the shipper in me loves it more. :D A little exchange between Rose and Eleven with a dash of 10.5 thrown in.

As always, I don't own them. If I did, I'd be a happier me. And an employed one, I'm sure.

* * *

The Doctor sat with his arms curled around his legs, not quite as long as they'd been before but still quite long enough to lean his chin on. The wind was blowing impossibly much to not have any sort of storm warnings, but he'd learned from his previous visits here that this weather was typical for the area. This new hair of his whipped in his face much more than it used to, but he supposed he'd grow used to it. If he didn't, he could always cut it, though he was loathe to change the appearance nature had given him. It seemed as if he was challenging the laws of regeneration by doing so too much.

He could see them at a distance; hand in hand, they were laughing as they walked in his direction. From the look of the pair of them, you'd never know they'd just participated in a Universe-saving war. And he had to admit, she looked radiant. It didn't stop it from burning to see her smile that smile as he said something in her ear, meant only for her. There was a physical ache in both of his hearts at the look of pure adoration she gave when looking up at him.

Then she caught sight of of the Doctor. He knew exactly when she saw him because she paused in her step, nearly jerking the tall man beside her at the sudden jolt. And then her companion's dark brown eyes met his and he felt cold all over. It should have been like looking in a mirror, but it never would be again, would it?

She stood on her toes, saying something to him. The Doctor watched unashamedly, intrigued by the interactions between the couple. As if to stake claim on his property, the brown-haired man took the small face in his hands and kissed her, gently but with conviction. That sent another round of chills through the Doctor.

But he pasted a smile on his face as she crossed the sand, arriving at his side more quickly than he might have expected. "Hi," she offered, taking a seat on the rock beside him. She sat cross-legged, looking almost exactly as she had in London on the day they'd prevented the war with the Slitheen. And despite the hurt coursing through him, he couldn't help but smile.

"'lo," he mumbled, still amazed at the change in his voice. He was a younger man this time, at least in appearance. But he felt far older than his 906 years. As many times as he'd fought to save a species or a planet, this one would always somehow be the hardest. Perhaps because of the blonde at his side. He glanced sideways at her, then down the beach towards the duplicate of his former self. "Sure your boyfriend won't mind you talking to me?" Sarcasm? Ah. Another rude personality. And still not bleeding ginger.

For a moment, Rose Tyler's hazel eyes darkened in anger, but it faded quickly. Instead of snapping at him, as he'd rather expected she would, she only shrugged her thin shoulders. "Doubt it."

His eyebrows lifted, surprised. "I would. Probably."

He was surprised by the gaze she fixed him with. A little bit hurt and a whole lot of smug. "Perhaps. But he's not you."

"He's as good as!" the Doctor protested, but she cut him off quickly enough. "No. No, he's not. It took the two of us long enough to figure it out, but it's true. He isn't. He's part you. But he's also part Donna and a little bit of something that's entirely himself."

Well. That was certainly something to consider. They had almost the same geneological makeup. So how was that man watching them from a distance so very different from him that Rose had felt the need to mention it?

He fell silent for a moment, and she didn't attempt to pry a reply out of him. Rose stared out at the ocean, watching the waves crash over the rocks nearest them. His eyes were on her, taking in her profile. Same turned up nose, same high cheekbones, same light brown skin and long eyelashes. But did he honestly even know her any longer? He'd known as she'd held him before his impromptu regeneration in London that she was different. Why had he expected her not to have changed? It had been years in her time, more than for him. She'd been forced to grow and mature even faster than she had when she was with him. Did it make him love her any less? No, that much he knew.

"How are you feeling?" she asked several minutes later, her eyes turning to look him over. He knew how she was feeling because she'd felt it before. At least this time, she knew. Rose had dealt with one regeneration, she'd face this one. And she didn't have to put up with this one long term.

Brushing some of his hair out of his face, the Doctor glanced at her with a half smile. "Better, thanks. At least you knew this time. What to do and all."

She merely shrugged again. "Then I guess it's a good thing you were with me instead of one of the others, isn't it?"

Was she trying to have a go at him? Make him feel guilty for traveling with anyone who wasn't her? Did she have any idea how lonely he got? "Having a genuine half Time Lord along didn't hurt, either," he remarked, his eyebrows lifting.

If he expected a fight from her, though, he didn't get one. Instead, she gave a light chuckle. "You're right, it didn't. It's because of him we didn't go crash landing through the rift again. Course, why we always end up back here, I've no idea."

'Here' happened to be alternatively his favourite and least favourite place in the multiverse. 'Here' was where he always seemed to be saying goodbye and letting her go. But 'here' was also where she'd told him that she loved him, which had kept him going through more times than he cared to remember. And 'here' was where he'd faced his latest regeneration, aided by the strange duplicate of his former self and his sweet Rose. "I imagine there's a rip in the dimensions here. Probably caused by all the use I've given it. We'll likely always wind up back here."

She scoffed, a very Rose gesture, and he glanced at her with lifted eyebrows. "Always? Really? Why? Why would you keep coming back?" Good question. He started to answer, and then waited. Good thing, too, as he'd have only been interrupted again. "To save this universe? We've got this one just fine without you." Again, his mouth opened, and this time a sound started to come out before he was again interrupted. "To see me? Oh, no, you saw to it that it wasn't necessary to do that anymore."

"What?" he yelped, attempting to sound as incredulous and shocked as his just past body had. Instead, he sounded like a man barely out of his teens complaining to his parents.

A younger Rose would've continued yelling at and berating him. But this older Rose, this young woman, took several deep breaths before turning to face him. "I only meant you won't need to be back here. So don't say it like there's a revolving door between dimensions."

He couldn't deny the hurt that shot through him. "There was a time you'd have wanted me here," he reminded her. "You'd have wanted that door to stay open at all times."

The smile on her face was bittersweet. "You changed that," she pointed out. "You changed that when you left me here with him." She nodded in the direction of his doppelganger, and the Doctor's face fell slightly. "You did this. Not me."

"I thought I was doing what was right," he said quietly, avoiding her eyes. He knew she was watching him. It was hard to miss when those eyes were on him, studying closely.

And he meant that. He really had done what he thought was right by her. Maybe it was a rash decision, but it made sense. He would never grow old. He would change, as he'd just done, become younger, older, thinner, fatter. But he'd never get old. She would, and he'd be forced to watch as she aged until she creeped towards death by old age. Leaving her with a copy of himself meant she had someone to lean on while he was, again, alone.

But he'd had the last year to consider the repercussions of his actions. Hours spent alone with his TARDIS meant a lot of thinking, and not all of it good. She would have stayed by him. It was selfish, what he'd done. Sending her off because he didn't want to have to watch her die. He hadn't considered at that moment what it would do to her.

Or, apparently, to his twin. "You've no idea what you put him through, you know," she said quietly. "Me... I've done this before. It was awful. I was angry, I was hurt, and I was confused, but I could manage. Him? You left him here with nothing. Absolutely nothing." The expression on her face was difficult to read, but she seemed angry, even betrayed. "What if I hadn't accepted him? I tried not to, you know. He wasn't you and it made me furious at all the wrong people. What was he supposed to do? And you just assumed!" He flinched at the rise of her tone. "You assumed Mum, Dad, and I could take care of him."

"But you did," he reminded her quietly. "Look at the pair of you now. Would you trade that, Rose?"

Her eyes clouded over. But, to her credit, she didn't look away. "I might have," she said softly. "To be with you? To get back what we'd had? I fought so hard to get back to you and then... I felt shoved aside like an unwanted scrap of food. I thought you were happy to see me."

The tone she used was so wounded he wanted to cry. Overwhelming amounts of emotion from the last several years swept over him and he buried his face in his hands to catch his breath. She didn't reach out to him, though, or speak. He felt her eyes on him, but she remained silent, curled into her self.

"I was happy to see you," he whispered a few moments later, barely heard over the crashing of the waves and the whipping wind. "So, so happy. I thought every piece of the world was finally being put into place. I thought I was finally being vindicated for living alone for so long. And then... And then I nearly died, and we were captured and I can't do that to you, Rose, don't you see?"

She didn't have to ask what. Despite years apart, she still knew him better than most anyone. "That should have been my choice to make," she reprimanded gently. "I knew the danger involved. I have since the first time I traveled with you. Almost got burnt by the sun, 'member that? I told you at Canary Wharf I'd made my choice and it was to stay with you. You had no right to take that away from me." The fight was gone from Rose's voice, as if she were simply too tired to yell at him or tell him off for his actions. "Why wasn't I enough for you?"

Her words tore through him, and despite his newly younger appearance, he'd never felt older. "I made a mistake," he admitted slowly. The Doctor looked her over closely. He'd never gotten to say it. Though he'd been given so many opportunities, he'd never been able to say it. "I'm so, so sorry, Rose. I thought I was doing what was right. I only hurt us both in the end. I never meant to, not to you. I... I love you, you know that."

It was a thought he'd been thinking all along. He could do it. It was what he'd wanted, it was what he'd always wanted. It was only wrong it had taken him so long to realize it. "Come with me, Rose," he said simply.

For a moment, for the briefest moment, he really believed she'd say yes. Her hazel eyes lit up, reflecting the green in them more than the brown. Her whole face said she'd give up anything to be at his side, traveling the galaxy again.

But that expression faded and was replaced with a resigned one. One that said he was wrong to have even asked. "I can't," she said quietly.

"Come on," he urged, placing a smile on his face, still growing used to the new teeth and lips that made that smile. "The Doctor and Rose Tyler, in the TARDIS, the way it was meant to be."

But Rose's gaze traveled along the edges of the beach. There stood the Doctor's old form, that so-called clone of his, at the water's edge. A toddler with pale blond hair splashed around his feet, jumping in and out of the waves. Tony Tyler obviously adored his hero. "No, I honestly can't," she said again, gently. "It's... Doctor, it's not Tyler anymore. It's Rose Smith, now."

And his hearts, both of them, dropped into his stomach. Of course. He should have asked long ago, but there was the battle and then his regeneration, and then recovering in the hotel nearest to Bad Wolf Bay. There simply hadn't been time. His eyes dropped to his lap and her hand reached over to rest on top of his. And finally, he noticed the gold band wrapped around her fourth finger. "How much too late am I?" he asked, a wry smile on his face.

"We were married two months ago," she confessed, and despite the turn their conversation had taken, her face brightened. "I wish you'd been there. It really was lovely."

She seemed so happy he couldn't fault her for it, but he felt the ache in his stomach intensify. Two months. If only he'd been able to get back two months ago, he might've stood a chance. "I'm sure you looked beautiful," he said, his voice cracking.

Her hand tightened on his, and he turned his over to thread their fingers together. "I'll always love you," Rose whispered, barely heard above the wind and the waves. "You have to know that. But you left me here. You passed him on to me like some stray puppy, with no regard to how either of us was going to get by without you." She glanced down at their joined hands, her thumb running lightly over his knuckles. "I fell in love with him. Him as him, not as a part of you handed over to me."

It was what he'd wanted. It was the reason he'd left the two of them alone on that beach. They were meant to grow old together; they would have a family and be in love and have everything the Doctor had always wanted with her for himself. And he wouldn't be a part of it. "I'm happy for you," he whispered, though the words lacked conviction.

Rose studied him for a long moment. Her hand reached up, touching his face lightly. Leaning in, she gently brushed a kiss against his cheek. "I want the best for you, Doctor. And...I know we're always going to be protected and it's going to be because of you." She got to her feet, extending a hand down to help him up. Though he'd regained the majority of his strength since his regeneration, being nursed by her, Jackie, and the human him as he was, he was still grateful for the support. The rock was slippery, and they both laughed as his feet slid and they nearly tumbled over.

Wordlessly, they walked hand-in-hand back up the beach to where the TARDIS sat waiting. The half-human, half-Time Lord stood nearby, swinging Tony in circles as he squealed his delight. When the pair reached them, an awkward silence fell over the group. "Rose!" Out of the mouths of babes. Tony charged at his sister's knees, burying his face in her kneecaps.

The smile that lit her pretty face cemented the Doctor's decision once and for all. Leaving her there, letting her get a life together... That was what he was meant to do. He was meant to make her happy.

Rose leaned down, scooping her brother into her arms. "Why don't we let the Doctors talk, hmm?" she asked, burying her face in Tony's neck. When she looked back up, they were both watching her. But her eyes were on the one she'd married, the one who she'd begin her own family with someday. They were speaking silently, tiny nuances of eyes and eyebrows and finally, a small wave of fingers. And the Doctor felt that awful pang go through him once more.

The two men stood and watched as she walked away, her little brother yammering on about the game he and John had been playing. She headed towards the hotel, where they both knew Jackie was waiting to give Tony a bath and get ready to get the next Zeppelin back to London.

Finally the two faced each other. "Not a bad look," the clone who had taken on the name John said, considering. "Still not ginger, though."

The Doctor laughed despite himself, running his hand through the wavy dark hair that fell around his face. "Starting to think it's never going to happen." Silence fell between them for a moment. It was as if they were sizing each other up, deciding the next course of action. "You know if you hurt her I'm going to tear apart the whole of space and time to get to you."

"And you and I both know I love her too much to let that happen." It was true. John's feelings were the Doctor's feelings, only increased by day-to-day life together as husband and wife. No one knew more than the Doctor just how much this tall, dark-haired man loved his wife. No one except John Smith. "Are you going to tell her goodbye?" he asked quietly.

Technically, he should. How many times could he possibly leave her behind without saying goodbye? But then he remembered that gentle kiss and the squeeze of her hand as they walked back up the beach. "I already have." He nodded towards the TARDIS. "You?"

Swallowing hard, John shook his head. "I've gotten used to living without her. I don't want to risk it." Stepping back, he offered a nod. "Be careful."

The Doctor nodded back, before moving to the TARDIS door. With one last lingering look towards Rose Tyler Smith's retreating figure, he slipped inside to leave the Norwegian coast one last time.


End file.
